Team

Charmfactory was founded in 2006 and enjoys a wide roster brought in by the team covering breakthrough, independent and high-profile artists and legends, music events and brands. The team bring to the table a wide set of skills and experience, find out more below.

Sarah Thompson (Managing Director) has worked in the digital side of the music industry since 1996 when she set up a website building company facilitating the build of sites for artists and a digital consultant. This was prior to record labels having their own dedicated digital teams. The company developed and ran over 200 websites for a selection of the major labels, and was sold to in 1998. Following this Sarah set up her own Digital Consultancy business, services included Digital PR and Digital Strategy and her clients included all the major labels plus a retainer with both Mute and Rough Trade Records. This business ran successfully until 2006 when Sarah set up Charmfactory. Charmfactory is one of the most successful digital agencies in the UK, specialising in entertainment with clients ranging from small unsigned artists, independent and major record labels. In 2013 Charmfactory extended its client base into Europe and the USA.

Lorraine Long (Campaign Manager) Lorraine has over 8 years experience in music PR. Hailing from Ireland she kick started her music career in 2005 with a short work experience stint at Protest Recordings. It was here that she met the man who would give her that all-important first job in the music industry – Dan Walsh at Incubator (now of Full Fat). Starting off with merely a passion for music and sheer determination she spent two and a half years developing a broad range of PR skills and working on a very diverse campaigns; from working with mainstream releases like the Rolling Stones, Eddy Grant, Rod Stewart; major labels including Sony RCA and UMTV; to independent acts and niche labels such as Epitaph Records (Set Your Goals, Farewell, Sing It Loud) and Kartel (Fat Freddy’s Drop). She’s worked on everything from online specific campaigns to 360° campaigns that meant dealing with national, regional, student and online PR concurrently. Her experience has also covered music festivals, events, awards ceremonies and magazine PR including; O2 Wireless Festival, Wychwood Music Festival, Metal Hammer Golden Gods, Classic Rock Roll of Honour, Golden Joystick Awards Total Film Magazine and Total Film Red Carpet Preview Event. Since joining Charmfactory in 2009, Lorraine has worked on an incredibly diverse roster of artists, brands and events. From musical icons such as Paul Simon, Robert Plant, Patti Smith, Tori Amos; to mainstream pop artists like Rebecca Ferguson, JLS, Macy Gray, Nerina Pallot; to indie acts including Everything Everything, Editors, Guillemots, Fyfe Dangerfield, Rodrigo Y Gabriela; and breakthrough acts including John Newman, Kodaline, Aiden Grimshaw, to up and comers; Darlia, Laura Welsh, Ang Low, Daniel James and Beatrice Eli not to mention; the Barclaycard Mercury Prize, The Eden Sessions, Jack Daniel’s and YHA Live More campaign.

Hannah Thacker (Campaign Manager) Hannah made her first forays into the music industry back in 2013 as a writer and subsequent New Music Editor of the reputable online blog, Unrecorded. Within a year, Hannah began talent scouting for IAMSOUND Records and earned herself a music marketing internship at the Tesco affiliated music streaming service blinkbox Music (fka We7), while continuing her editorial duties at Unrecorded. After this brief time in London, Hannah returned to her home city of Manchester in late 2015 and established her own independent music publicity company, Colony PR, specialising in digital media campaigns for both unsigned artists and independent record labels. Since 2015, Hannah has had the pleasure of working with artists Nerve Leak, Lex Low, Zoey Lily, Xander Ghost, Glints, Mere Child, Pola Rise, Richard Walters, Louis Baker, Me For Queen, San Felu, Failr, MICKY, Toyko, BE GOOD, Ethan Breakaway, Hider among others. In addition to this, Colony has also collaborated closely with record labels like Factory Flaws, Seahorse Music, Aston Rd. and Pilotlights, as well as donating her time and skills to the Oxjam Manchester Festival 2016 and 2017. Hannah also enjoys working on both sides of the PR fence, overseeing campaigns while writing for music review site The Most Radicalist, video sessions studio COLORS and creating web and social media for HumanHuman.

After building up a reputation as a music journalist and independent PR, Hannah is joining the formidable Charm Factory publicity team bringing her ear for great music, wordsmith capabilities and industry contacts along with her.

Vicky Ward (Campaign Manager) A passion for advancing technology happily led Vicky to a varied career within the music industry. At Omnifone Ltd, a leading provider of digital music services, Vicky gained extensive experience across the full marketing mix. Launching the first artist led mobile phone application for Universal Music and managing the marketing launches of multiple digital music services for blue chip electronics companies, mobile network operators and internet service providers – including, Sony, Vodafone, Blackberry, HP and Sky. All services, launched with fully licensed back catalogues, from all major record labels, as well as leading independents. Each campaign resulted in positive, blanket coverage, across industry and national press.

A love of great music combined with a wealth of marketing experience has enabled Vicky to successfully utilise her skillsets to build standout consumer led PR campaigns. At Charmfactory, Vicky has worked on campaigns for independent artists Future Animals, Laoise, Nia Wyn and Tom Figgins as well as managing the digital marketing for In The Woods Festival and its associated projects.

We work closely with a number of freelancers including Matt Neale, Oli Rose and Charlotte Raffo all of whom offer specific skills to enhance our campaigns.